S blog featuring retro and vintage subjects of a great varitety

The Little Blue Car That Never Was

I love to come across lost cars of the past and this beauty in baby blue is no exception. Behold the Alca Volpe, probably the rarest of Italian microcars, only ten of these cars were ever made following a mysterious turn of events involving the manufacturer…

Met with great enthusiasm by the Italian press, the Volpe, meaning ‘fox’, was set to rival the micro car du jour, the Fiat Topolino. Even smaller than the Topolino and cheaper, the Volpe seemed destined for automotive stardom in post-war Italy.

After its celebrated launch in Rome, 1947, despite many pre-orders and pre-payments, no complete deliveries were ever made to any customer. The following year, Alca was hit with charges for fraudulent bankruptcy. Customer bank deposits went ‘missing’ and courts found that the equivalent of 5.5 million euros today, had been illegally held by the company. It is possible that Alca never in fact built a single running car.

So what about the model we’re looking at? This is one of a handful of Alca Volpe’s that still exist today and was sold recently at auction for a little over $40,000.

Just one problem; it doesn’t actually drive. RM auctions, who sold the car in February 2013 writes in their description:

“This rare car is restored as original, without the motor it never received”.